a story of design and development tools
the web is an open, unlimited medium. is that really true?
if you're a designer, you're probably like us, spending most of your
days pushing pixels and creating in image-based design tools,
struggling with the inconsistency across design and development
environments, passing over files through multiple iterations to try
almost hopelessly to reach some semblance of what it is you initially
envisioned.
paradoxically, the products we create are evolving, yet the tools we
use to design them didn't change in over three decades. these existing
tools keep us in a fixed, stagnant canvas, the form overshadows the
function.
even more paradoxically, the more we are evolving the more it became
complex to create for the web, while ancient design tools such as
flash were doing a better job at bringing designers to the web medium.
modern design tools are focusing on ideation, only simulating the
functionality of the final product. website builders are "simple" yet
not flexible enough, enforces their paradigms, and limit the medium's
possibilities. and - they are vendor-locked.
while custom solution such as wordpress is flexible, they are not simple enough and requires even more resources.
we've evolved excessively in design, yet the tools and processes we
have are archaic, defunct, and lean too heavily on print. we're trying
to make this broken process work, and it requires too much manual
effort and documentation. if that's not bad enough, by the end of the
day, designers don't have enough impact on the actual product.
have you ever stopped to think - this could all be so different? why
are all of us designing complex component systems in static design
tools and, even worse, handing them off instead of building the real
thing ourselves?
we at rainbow, aim to remove the gaps. the next generation of design
tools is coming, and we've imagined a future where creators work
harmoniously to create beautiful, functional digital products.
rainbow gives designers and developers the tools to build a better web. creators of rene.css.
"the first web browser was also an editor. the idea being that not
only could everyone read content on the web, but they could also help
create it. it was to be a collaborative space for everyone."
Sir Tim Berners-Lee ↗